#i hate kyubey so fucking much

[daydreamerwonderkid]

.....................

kyubey, that fucking rat.

[creepylittlelady]

My opinion on Slenderman (INCREDIBLY OPINIONATED POST)

(If you guys are curious about my take on him, check out my post on Slenderman headcanons!)

Alright, I like to call myself a neutral person when it comes to stuff like this but GOD DAMN WILL I DIE ON THIS HILL. Slenderman is one of my favourite characters (Zalgo my love I love you so much), and one of the reasons why I like him is that there is genuinely speaking, NOTHING CANON ABOUT HIM.

It kinda confuses me about how black and white his characterisation tends to be. It's either he's your Dad who is currently yelling at Jeff for getting blood on the couch again, or he's the Heartless Narcisisstic Evil Monster who loves NOBODY and cares for NOBODY. I can deeply appreciate both sides, but claiming one over the other absolutely is kinda dumb.

In fact, trying to claim anything concrete about his character is a losing battle. There's nothing canon you can say about him; he has no backstory, he has no motivations for anything he did, he has no personality, he doesn't even really have a canon relationship with any of the Creepypastas. Sure, you can claim that what he did in Marble Hornets is a sign that he's evil and manipulative; but couldn't you say the same thing for, let's say Kyubey from Madoka Magica?

I don't know if he (Kyubey identifies as a male apparently) is a good example, but the point of Madoka Magica is that at the end of the day you can't call him evil. He's a completely different species with a different set of morals and therefore you can't just slap a 'PURE EVIL' label on him and walk on your merry way.

That's exactly how I feel about Slenderman. You can't call him evil and just walk away; there's so much more to him then that. You can say the same thing about Lord Zalgo, it's just so boring and typical to label them as 'Good' or 'Bad' and then just never try to write them in any nuanced way.

He has no backstory, there's no canonical reason for why he's doing any of this. Is he even aware of what's happening? Is he aware that what he's doing is bad? Is he just a nonhuman who is apathetic to the idea of human emotions? Does he have a good reason for doing all of this, at least, good in his mind?

I get so pissed whenever I hear the 'Slenderman is canonically evil' bs sometimes. Yes yes I get it he's not this wholesome father figure who'll provide for your every need like your own parents never did, but is that REALLY the only other option when it comes to how to portray him? Come on guys lets get creative! My own idea isn't all that creative; it's just a mixture of both versions tied into one, but I seriously wanna see some headcanons of him that aren't either:

Version A:

-Slenderman is cartoonishly bad at being a father figure, or he's just the background character. Some real 'JACK ARE YOU EATING ON THE COUCH AGAIN?!' Shenanigans.

Version B:

-Slenderman hates you. Slenderman will use his evil little powers to manipulate you into like idk being his slave or some shit and you should hate him because that's who he is. HE WILL BEAT YOUR ASS SO HARD THAT YOU WILL BLEED. HE HATES EVERYONE. EVERYONE HATES HIM. COLLECT HIS PAGES NOW.

Yes, he has done shit, but do you know why he did the shit? Do you know this dude personally? Has he literally come up to you and said 'Ahh yes I love abusing mortals it gives me so much karmic joy'. Deadass did Masky tell you that he beats his ass himself? The only thing he wants you to do is collect his pages.

Also don't misinterpret this post because I fucking LOVE AUs that make him into a villain but like in a good way that I absolutely adore. But why slander him for a version of him that doesn't exist? How on Earth do you a slander a character that has no personality? That's personally why Vocaloid Slander is weird as well; because these guys have got no canon personality.

Slenderdad does not exist. Slenderman the evil eldritch does not exist.

Slenderman does not exist.

That's why he's cool. Because he's basically the blankest of all blank slates, write him as whatever you want but don't claim that it's canon or 'realistic' or anything like that. I guess I can kind of see why you could say that evil Slenderman is realistic, but technically that's ALSO a headcanon. I don't believe his actual creator wrote him a personality beyond the fact that he kills people, and thats it.

Have fun with the guy, because he, alongside Zalgo, are characters where you can genuinely say anything about them and nobody can say you're wrong.

Anyways that's my rant post of the evening hope you guys enjoyed, make sure to smash that like and subscribe button >:3

Also feel free to debate with me in any way shape or form, this might be a terrible take and I'm open to changing my mind at any time in the future. This is just my current take on things.

[thesharktanksdriver]

Heya there! I'm the anon that talked about the evolution of stars (but now off anon! because i hate referring to myself as "[Insert identifiable thingy here] anon" if i ever come back to ask something on anon again) and as you've read my. extensive yapping and speculation about a singular mentioned thing you said related to Determination! i have come back to yap and speculate to you once more (Because i may be, waaaay to fixated on this cuz it's my favorite kind of story!)

but you mentioned that 1. y/n doesn't dream often and 2. that they heard in a dream the voices of the long departed cheering them on in and then a star exploding into a supernova. and that made me think about whatever dreamspace they see when they finally have a dream and the entire "Something might emerge from inside of them" thing and i kept thinking and thinking and it kind of gave me a similar vibe to one Chapter of Houseki No Kuni (Really great manga by the way, i recommend it if you haven't read it) specifically chapter 46, Where Phos falls asleep and talks to Lapis in their dream (from page 17 to page 24) and they're in Phos' mind.

now that got my brain running and it's just speculation based on little things but, what if that "something" inside of them has somewhat of some amount of disconnect between itself and y/n? that they can, though in some time limited capacity, talk to them?

And another thing that is related to that train of thought is, how exactly would their "mind space" look, because you mentioned that their memory has issues due to how long they've lived. Maybe it has gaps or holes in it? (In a similar manner to how Phos' mind looks in the previous mention of Houseki No Kuni) or maybe it has blank places in it? or is it just a void? Honestly I've given this, waay to much thought than it should have for throwaway lines.

but with the entire black hole and neutron star thing in mind, would that something alternate between a detachment of everything around them (In a similar way to Kyubey from Madoka) or an unnerving calm monotone depending on what it presents itself while speaking to them before emerging? if it's a different entity from y/n all together that just lives inside of them, that is.

anyways uh if you've read all of this, thanks for tolerating my yapping.

Don’t worry about yapping! I personally love hearing y’all’s input and theories! It’s really fun and motivation on my end! Especially after a shity day lol. Your asks are very much welcome in my inbox!

Btw I fucking adore houseki no kuni, chefs kiss!

And you’re definitely right about that something in y/n eventually being able to talk to them! Y/n and them are “separate” entities but also the same (if that makes any sense). Like, when a character in a show reincarnates. They’re technically the same person but there are differences in their circumstances that change them ever so slightly. Both go by different names and some if the small details are changed but in the overall they are fundamentally the same soul. But back to the topic!

Yes! Eventually y/n will talk with them!

And that becomes important with Marineford.

As for y/n’s mind pace I’d say it’s something akin to floating in space (me and the space themes lol). Bleak darkness that they float through representing their lost memories they waft through, the stars being the lucky few memories glowing in that darkness but so far out, so spaced apart within the sea of darkness that is the gaps in their mind of what had happened and what came first.

Y/n forgets a lot (which they know about but don’t remember what they forgot) and they space out a lot without noticing it at all. Both of these facts kinda make them their own unreliable narrator lol

Teehee now for the most interesting part black hole and neutron star forms.

When in either of these forms it’s y/n that’s in control. The thing in them kinda gives y/n the steering wheel and they watch from the passenger seat cause they’re just there for the ride. But when entering these different states y/n is very fundamentally different.

Both forms have their upsides and downsides, both are extremely powerful but are either self destructive or externally destructive. But most importantly they awaken and depend on y/n in a mental way.

Both are made of stars collapsing, but as one burns on the other decides to take everything with it.

Y/n will collapse but their choice in that mental collapse will determine the outcome of if they awaken either form.

I probably spoiled my own story quite a bit but screw it! I’m writing this shit at a snails pace and I wanna give yall food to eat since I’ve starved you all of content lol

[the-witchs-cafe]

A bit more of a meta question than a specific character question: but how do you think kyubey and the witch system work in the pokemon world? Would kyubey perhaps be a legendary, or is he something completely unrelated? Can kyubey and/or witches be caught in poke balls? And what about soul gems?

I'd be lying if I didn't say that I have been seriously brainstorming this for some time. While I do have bits and pieces in my disposal atm, I am more than happy to share them with ya! Hopefully, with time, we could manage to uncover a bigger picture here; see how these small particles of knowledge interconnect with one another to form a constellation like no other.

This is gonna be separated into parts, because, pal, I am gonna unleash levels of autism like no other;

-

Incubators

- H E A V E N S A Y S - "Y O U A R E A N A N G E L !"

So, first thing's first, Kyubey; after looking into his main inspiration, being the Old Ones and any other eldritch horror that is beyond human rationality, I've theorized that perhaps that a whole other incubator species is present within the Pokemon universe. Much like Kyubey, their individual "selves" are little more than parts of a much higher, vaster being that is looking down at humanity with calculative intrigue; striking a single one of them down is an act akin to simply waving your hand in front of their face, which is annoying, but not necessarily harmful. Unlike incubators, though, I can see their designs being more heavenly and digital; focused on what is right or wrong without any of the nuance of humanity, as well as butterflies being a key motif present.

While I am still working on how they would work lore-wise (like, how they came to being in the first place'; perhaps born from the expansion of the universe, as a consequence of Arceus' actions?), I don't think they would be in any way related to Pokemon as a species- rather, they are part of the universe as a whole. Think of the Pokemon universe as an Operating System, and the incubators as an essential application, there to ensure that the OS is running in a stable manner like a sort of booster, and magi are their own anti-viruses.

Aside from emotions and karmic destiny, tho (because I fucking hate Kyubey's justification for why he only contracts with girls in-canon; "oh, girls are just more emotional-" shut up), the incubators of the Pokemon universe also target desire; think visions from Genshin Impact, those whose wishes are so powerful that they rival the very narrative they are in. Those who seek to take charge of their destinies are more than likely to contract.

-

Witches

Regarding witches, I have to make it clear that, no; they're still interdimensional monsters born from curses and are, in fact, the maddened remnants of the souls of the magi they once were trapped in an eternal nightmare. However, it can be said that they would develop certain...quirks depending on the region they hail from. I'm still working on the whole list of regions, but here is what I got so far;

Alola: Community (can call for one another for assistance; battles against one another is rare, as they prefer to team up. More in-tune with the physical world than the rest.) and ??? (something to do with Z-Power, and how it would affect the witches and their barriers; still need to work on that)

Galar: Monarchies (the strongest witch there is crowned as their "ruler"; mirroring the region's celebrity culture and the old monarchs of Britain) and illusions (upon witching out, the magi leave behind "specters" of their former selves; kinda like faceless remnant data of the people they used to be, haunting the places and people that influenced them so until the witch's defeat. This phenomenon is caused by the former trainer's wishing star/dynamax band and the region's power spots.)

Paldea: Regrets/Treasures (still working on that) and paradoxes (how fucked up would it be if you met your future witch form looking down at you and square in the eyes, amirite you guys? Dang it, Sada and Turo...)

Aside from all of the above, if the magi happened to be a Pokemon trainer themselves before falling into despair, I think that their accompanying party 'mons would also be affected. After all, Z-power is drawn from both the trainer and their pokemon, and Mega Evolution's success depends on the bond made with one another. I'm still working on the intricacies, but they might become akin to shadow Pokemon from Pokemon Colosseum/XD: Gale of Darkness; they aren't familiars for the witch, but they would still be driven to insanity by their master's despair and still obey them in this form.

As a side-note, mainly because I am a huge Alola stan, I should state that, through Z-moves, the region technically has something akin to the Doppel system of Magia Record. When your heart is in-tune with your pokemon's, you share one another's hopes, dreams, worries, and despair in the process, before unleashing it all in the form of an as-of-yet unnamed specialized Z-Move. Using them also doesn't pose the risk of contracting Doppel Syndrome, either, but that is due to the following key aspect that separates this universe's doppel system from that of MR's-

You see, these specialized Z-Moves don't completely cleanse the soul gem upon activation; rather, they simply create a sort of equilibrium between the remaining energies of the magi and their 'mon. In a sense, you are sharing your burdens with your buddy by using this power, while also allowing them to lend their energy to you. Think of how the MC would feel exhausted after unleashing Light that Burns the Sky, then imagine the opposite of that.

This method of purifying soul gems is often regarded as an absolute last resort; the thought of risking your Pokemon's health just to make sure you don't kick the bucket is considered to be way too much of a taboo for most people. If used carelessly, then unleashing this power would cause the user to witch out at an even faster rate- perhaps instantly.

Yeah, between the witches that can actually organize and a less-than-stable doppel system, Alola is one of the worst regions to contract in. Too bad most of the residents there have a LOT of Z-power coursing through their veins, making it a sort of incubator/witch hotspot; same goes for Galar and its Dynamax Energies.

[catgirl-catboy]

🌸, 👛,🕷️ , and ♟️??

🌸 a ship others dislike but you don’t?

Most of them, tbh. My thing is toxic ships, so my tastes and the fandoms are pretty incompatible.

I'll give an example for each fandom bc why not?

Danganronpa: Junkan!!!

Ace Attorney: Phantomquill (also pretty much any fey family ship ;) )

One Piece: Robinlu

Vivziepop: Alastor x Niffty, mutual-ish radiostatic

Madoka Magica: Sayaka and Kyosuke

👛 your favorite rare pair?

Do crossover ships count? I'm the only person I know of who ships Junko x Kanade from Super Danganronpa Another 2. It'd be so fucked up, but I want to see who would win and mindbreak the other first.

🕷️a character you feel is underrated?

so so so many I can't pick one. Have one for each fandom again I'm so sorry

One Piece: Gin from Baratie arc! Also Shirahoshi (best princess don't @ me.)

Homestuck: Aradia and Jake! them. kissing them on the head. Jade also.

Danganronpa: Hifumi and Impostor. I love them.

Ace Attorney: MINI MINEY!!! my personal favorite culprit, and she gets reduced to proto-Dahlia when she's so much more than that.

Vivziepop: Give Velvette more screen time I beg of thee.

Madoka: Kyubey. He's a stinky bastard man, but the fact he's not just a 'for the evulz' character is so intersting to me! Also he's cute and I want a plushie of him.

♟️a character you feel is overrated?

Here comes the Salt Zone, I'm so sorry

One Piece- Chopper.

Ace Attorney- Edgeworth. I love the man, but stop putting him in fucking everything. Give someone else a chance for a cameo.

Danganronpa- Kiyo. Even his haters hate him for the wrong reasons.

Vivziepop- Octavia. She doesn't have much of a distinct personality from Loona and I think her design is very uncreative.

Homestuck- Going for the low hanging fruit here, but John and Dave. I love them, but please stop overshadowing your friends who I love slightly more :3

[gengarghast]

Well, I recently watched episodes 1-3 of Madoka Magica so here are my thoughts on the series. From episodes 1-3 I mean.

There's gonna be spoilers, by the way.

My thoughts on Madoka Magica: Episodes 1-3!

Episode 1

So, right from the get-go, I am absolutely in love with the setting design of this series. Madoka, the protagonist, runs through checkerboard corridors and Escheresque halls in the dream sequence that kicks off the show, and it's absolutely gorgeous.

Of course, everything then gets kicked up to 11 when Madoka walks through a door and fucking

MEETS GOD.

Okay, that's not actually God, or even an Angel, but something called a Witch, which I'll get to later. (heheh, witch which)

Anyways, after that whole kerfuffle she wakes up and brushes her teeth, boring life stuff, we're introduced to her friends Sayaka and who the fuck cares, yada yada. And then, this bitch (named Homura) shows up.

Holy fuck I hate this bitch. She is so mean and rude and condescending and emotionless as she does it. She feels like a caricature of autistic people. She either needs to show some actual fucking humanity and stop being a cold-hearted cunt, or just fuck off and get killed. Mind you, I've only seen up to Episode 3. So, she might get better, and I have no idea if she does. Anyways, she lowkey threatens Madoka, time passes, and then kind of just straight up tries to kill a main character (Kyubey, this weird cat thing). Now, this is where the fun begins.

The four main characters at this point- Madoka, Sayaka, Kyubey, and Homura- Are all pulled into this thing called a "Labyrinth." Labyrinths are pocket-dimensions created by entities called "Witches" as a way to keep themselves safe and protected from the outside world while they do their... Witch things. Whatever those are. Sending people "kys" over Discord dms or something, I don't know. Either way, they look fantastic.

Putting these traditionally animated chatacters within this photorealistic hellscape just really conveys how completely alien the Witches are, so much so that they and their domains appear as if on a completely different level of reality.

This is the witch of what I'm calling the Butterfly Gardens Labyrinth, because... Those are the main motifs of the Labyrinth. Her name is Gertude, by the way.

Anyways, this girl named Mami shows up and shoots everything with her magic shotguns, the Witch escapes, and Mami asks Madoka and Sayaka to become Magical Girls like her. Well, Kyubey does the asking, but whatever.

Episode 2

Blah blah blah boring exposition. Shit barely happens. We find out that witches drop loot when they die, called "Grief Seeds". Which is pretty cool actually. It's explained that a girl becomes a Magical Girl when they make a contract with Kyubey and create a soul gem or whatever. Creating the aforementioned contract also means that you get a WISH. Like, ANY WISH. NO RULES. AT ALL. Which pisses me off because these idiots could wish for

1. The extinction of all Witches. 2. More wishes. 3. The power to warp reality in whatever way they want.

And Kyubey could theoretically grant them!!! What the fuck!!!!! They also say that "Witches are born from curses like Magical Girls are born from wishes", whatever the fuck that means. Are they implying that witches are just... Cursed humans? Like, they are the victims of a curse? And you're just killing them without mercy? Instead of trying to rehabilitate them?? What the fuck is wrong with these motherfuckers. Seriously.

Also, it feels like a good time to mention that I don't trust this fucker at all.

I see through you, Kyubey. You're a fucking parasite, aren't you.

Also, WHERE THE FUCK ARE ALL THE MAGICAL BOYS??? PUT SOME DUDES ON THE TEAM YOU WEIRD CAT. THIS JUST SEEMS FETISHY IF THERE ARE JUST LITTLE GIRLS WORKING FOR YOU. NOT A GOOD LOOK.

Side-Tangent: Intro

As if I wasn't already on a side-tangent complaining about the yet-unexplained holes in the worldbuilding and how much I despise Kyubey, I'm just gonna take a moment to talk really quick about the intro.

*Ahem.*

WHAT THE FUCK, PEOPLE.

That girl is an EIGHTH GRADER. SHE IS NOT ONLY A MINOR, BUT A VERY YOUNG ONE AS WELL.

AND HERE SHE FUCKING IS. IN A REVEALING, FETISHISTIC, SWIMSUIT. IF THAT'S WHAT THAT EVEN IS.

AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THIS WHOLE FUCKING SCENE. WHY DID THEY MAKE THEM SQUISH THEIR CHESTS TOGETHER??? WHAT THE FUCK!!! THESE ARE NAKED 13 YEAR OLDS WHAT THE FUCK WHY IS THIS IN MY INTRO SEQUENCE WHO THE FUCK SAID THIS WAS OKAY TO PUT ON TV???????????????

Anyways rant over. I hate pedophiles

Episode 3

Oooh, a hospital-based Labyrinth!! This looks so cool!

You know, now that I think about it, Mami is actually a pretty fun character, and I like her a lot! She has some depth to her that wasn't visible before, but now I'm able to really appreciate it!

Heck, even her vicious slaughter of innocent inhabitants of the Witches Labyrinths is kind of cool now!

Oh hey, look, the Witch is a funny doll!! lmao

...Hey, hol up, what's that

Hey wait what's it doing

oh no. oh no no no no no

What are you doing miss funny candy clown snake please don't do tha-

...

. . .

it hurts.

[muffinrecord]

What translations are you looking forward to, as of now?

Excellent question! Let's see... Oh I'm counting "translated" and "recorded" as the same for this.

Main Story stuff

I'm really looking forward to the last parts for Puella Historia. I wanna know how it all ends!

I forgot which chapter it is but I REALLY want to see the main story part where Juri + Yuna raise Ao as a baby asf;laskfoa

I also never read the event doc for Toyo's thing, so I'm excited to see that. People seem to have positive feelings on it

Event story stuff

I've been looking forward to the Swimsuit Mami event cause Mami content! Apparently it also has aliens in it? Which is... kinda weird. But I guess Kyubey is an alien, so....

I'm really curious about Only Dreamers (Kushu release) because her MGS totally made me interested in her character, and it looks like it has Ikumi and Yukika in it? Whom I love.

Ashen Revolution looks to be pretty good but it's stuck in review hell right now I think.

Akari's event looks interesting and kind of classical mahou shoujo (oh no my love interest is in love with my cooler adult magical girl self!) so the premise is interesting. Hotaru is also in it and I'm really fond of her.

RAINBOW COLORED SUMMER looks fucking FANTASTIC.

Magical Girl Stories stuff

Yukika-- I like her and I'm curious as to what her mgs is about.

Swimsuit Mami-- as mentioned above, gotta have that mami content. The only thing I hesitate on is if it involves Nagisa somehow 'cause I don't really enjoy their dynamic (I maintain that mami needs an older friend who lets mami be a kid, not a stupid baby character). (I don't hate Nagisa, I liked her in her Wish event)

Konoha & Hazuki-- I liked their event waaaay more than I expected and tbh the Azaleas feel super nostalgic to me; it's going to be a treat when their mgs is recorded!

Asahi-- I barely know anything about her so I'd love to get to know her better

Perenelle-- tbh her character doesn't interest me too much but the idea of a wandering hundreds-years-old magical girl who is aloof and may or may not help out other magical girls is very appealing to me. I'd love a spinoff just on that concept alone-- a woman who has seen it all and stays the same no matter how much history changes.

Mikoto-- I'm not sure what her magical girl story is about, but I'm hoping that it's about her pre-witch. She seems super fascinating

Heruka-- she captured my heart and I wanna know more about her. Her event was my favorite PH! Although apparently it was also the hardest one to translate, so I'm not gonna hold my breath on it

Amaryllis-- she's a dear and I'm excited

Historia Yachiyo-- gotta see what the star^2 girl is all about.

Quotes Stuff

actually I was gonna write here but god that list would be so fucking long, this would be unreadable. hmmm but some highlights would include:

Anime Mami

Matsuri Hinata

Seira Mihono (all the theater girls really)

Rui Mizuki

Swimsuit Mami

Tsuruno & Felicia (Delivery)

Nayuta Satomi

Anime Tsuruno

Rabi Himuro (and her kimochi ver)

Darkness Kanagi and Mitama

Chizuru

Olga

Heruka

Masara & Kokoro

Amaryllis

Historia Yachiyo

Devil Homura

I promise that this is just the highlights, I wanted to include so many more

Thanks for the question! This was fun to look through.

ALSO just to make sure: no rush to the translators, reviewers, or JSONers!

[timemachineyeah]

Hi, I really appreciate your points on Madoka! Thank you for providing that insight that is so desperately needed! Because I am so sick of dudebros acting like it's better than female-empowering Magical Girl works aimed at girls, or how whenever I or somebody else critiques the storytelling and message we just get told "Madoka is perfectly feminist actually and if you don't think so then you're just too stupid to understand how DEEEEEEEP it is go back to your stupid sweet and fluffy anime that's for GUUUUURLS" or alternatively "oh so female characters can't ever suffer ever and have to be happy all the time ever or it's misogynistic trash?!?!?!?! check and mate bitch" like I am just so tired. I'm glad to see your posts even though some of them are quite old. I have to say thank you once again for your genuine critique of Madoka because at this point I feel like I'm being punked whenever I talk about what's wrong with it.

Sorry! I saw this earlier and completely forgot to answer!

My few posts have given me a reputation as a Madoka hater (and, fair enough, because I certainly don't blame anyone who is. Please hate Madoka all you like). The truth is I really do like the original show quite a bit, but YEAH.

YEAH.

I think the thing that gets most exhausting for me, over and over, is bringing up these criticisms and being told, "No! Because Madoka fixed all that!" and even ignoring Rebellion (which I am inclined to do anyway), the girls still die.

They die.

The happy ending is a montage of girls dying. Which is a happy ending only because what they were getting before (specifically as a consequence of choosing to be a magical girl) was a fate worse than death.

And it's worth noting how the incubators are portrayed. They aren't portrayed as malicious. They aren't "evil" in that sense. What they are is practical and indifferent. They are taking advantage of inherent factors in the universe, not creating those factors.

Which means that there's something about PMMM that is saying, this is reality. At least in this fiction, this is the reality of femininity. And it is inherent to femininity! Kyubey even explains - it's weird! But only teen girls are like this! That's why we use them!

I think it's fair to be like, hey, that's fucked up. What kind of gender essentialist fatalism? Bro?

And it's also just denial to pretend it isn't about fanservice or a male audience.

As anyone who's been on my blog recently will know, I'm kinda super into Love Live! right now. It's cute. It scratches an itch.

And there's a lot of plausible deniability built into it, and a lot of pushback from English speaking fandom about it, but, uh, Love Live! is an idol game but it's also a waifu collector.

It's also a catalogue of nonthreateningly sexual anime teenage girls specifically designed to appeal first and foremost to lonely awkward Japanese young working men with disposable income.

And, idk, knowing that doesn't impede my ability to find it cute and wholesome and fun and escapist. The fact that it is that does lead to some of creative decisions that make the series less fun for me (it's not very diverse, for example. The yuri elements are subtext for another. And I either wish the girls were less sexualized or older, personally). But I'm not going to deny what it is.

I'm not even particularly interested in shaming the men its aimed at for liking it, or shaming the creators for making it that way per se (well, okay, sometimes I am interested in shaming the creators a lil bit). But I do think most the things about it that read as feminist to me as an American read that way because I am so far outside the original intended subculture. And I think the same is true about Madoka. You can absolutely read feminist messages in it. I certainly do. But placing these works in their original contexts tells a very different much more... regressive? picture. They were not made for women and girls. They are not made to uplift women and girls. They CAN! And they DO! Both in Japan and elsewhere! But that's anywhere from (at best) a secondary market to (at worst) a complete accident.

It's hard for some people to wrap their heads around because in America at least I think the idea of a "cute" (even if that's subverted in Madoka) media starring a large cast of only girls being for men is pretty alien to how we do stories and marketing. Here we understand playboy magazines and swimsuit editions, but we don't understand men collecting merch of a cute fictional girl they like. It would be seen as emasculating.

We understand the reverse. We get that boy bands and anime like Free! can be aimed squarely at women while being comprised entirely of men or male characters. Which is part of why I'm not shaming the male audiences, because... desiring anime tiddy isn't inherently predatory anymore than a lady desiring anime ass. And that's a crass way of putting it anyway. We don't frame hanging a boy band poster up that way, or playing a game like Mystic Messenger. It becomes more complicated because we live in a complicated patriarchal structure that protects and empowers men and women differently and unequally, but that seems like a poor reason to try to tell individual men they aren't allowed to enjoy things in a way that is obviously natural and parallels how... most humans like to enjoy some things sometimes.

But that also doesn't mean we can't look at those broad cultural patterns and... make observations. And have criticisms. And talk about how it affects people, and the back and forth between media and culture.

But, Madoka is for men first. The girls' suffering is a form of male gaze, and pretty unambiguously a kind of very very softcore torture porn for male gamer types. That's not a judgment against it, that's just its literal intended share of the market. It's a pretty easy read if you understand the context in which it was released and the culture it is coming from and catering to. My Little Pony is a little girls toy franchise. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sells toys to boys. Home & Gardens is for housewives. Top Gear is for car dads. These are true even if other people like them. When an adult fan of children's cartoons (I say, as an adult fan of children's cartoons) tries to say, "But it's not really a kids cartoon!" I feel about the same way I do when a feminist fan of some clearly male-centric media says, "But it's not really!"

And that's - own your shit. Own it. It's fine. It's fine to like it. It's fine to love it. It's fine if it means the world to you. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with you if you like a media that maybe isn't the most mature or progressive masterpiece out there. Just don't pretend there's no validity in obvious criticism. I love some real garbage made by real garbage people. I have survived.

Madoka exists in a fictional universe where the laws of that fictional universe are that 1) girls are uniquely emotional, 2) that emotion and their own aspirations can easily be harnessed against them in such a way that in the best possible universe all it does it kill them. In the normal universe it turns them into evil witches. That's just true. That's the world. I'm allowed to look at that, especially in conversation with magical girl media that came before, and go, "you know what? in that context, that's pretty fucked up" and it doesn't even mean that I stop liking the show, so I don't see why everyone else has to get so defensive about it.

(Y'all have no idea. Those posts are old now, but I got so many asks. I had to block so many people. I'm not trying to take your precious anime away calm down.)

Idk if I completely agree with the tone of my original posts - there's a little bit of offhanded vilifying of "men" as a shorthand for... all the bullshit... and I no longer love that language. I love men. Men are people. Some men can be shitty, but shitty individual men and patriarchy aren't the same. But I do still agree with all my broad points.

Plus, yes, also. The thing of a new (often male) fanbase getting into something you've been into for a long time with some new entry and acting like it both invented and fixed everything about the genre (PMMM and magical girls, Friendship is Magic and girl cartoons, Stardew Valley and farming sims) is frustrating, and to hear many an incurious nerd tell it, magical girls were floundering before Madoka! And I hate that.

Anyway, oops, I went on a little rant. That still makes it look like I don't like Madoka. I actually really do like the original series. I have rewatched it multiple times and probably will again. I even tried to play Magia Record (briefly - I couldn't really get into it). I can't speak to the many many spinoff media - but those have so many different writers and so much different lore that I think it'd probably be hard to try to pin any kind of single ethos to the franchise as a whole any more. But while I couldn't get into Magia Record I'd bet there's a short manga story or something that I'd love at this point. When you make like 200 magical girls or whatever that's bound to happen.

Thanks for the ask. Sorry Madoka fans are still so hyper defensive apparently. I hope you are able to survive them and find some better magical girl series out there. <3

[atypicalsouda]

top 5 least favorite anime characters?

I'm curious. :3c

Hey baby! I know this is late but thanks for the ask! 😘😘 love you ❤️

1. Hayase from To Your Eternity. Gross ass bitch that I wanna strangle.

2. Tsumugi Shirogane from Danganronpa V3, she makes me uncomfortable on so many levels. Fuck her.

3. Kyubei from Madoka Magica. Fuck that thing.

4. Pretty much every antagonist from Re:Zero, I can’t pick. Hate hate hate and more hate.

5. The MHA villains I guess?? It annoys me how much people love them, cuz they’ve only ever annoyed me.

Don’t get me wrong tho these are all well written villains but I fucking hate them on a personal level so.

[unusualshrimp]

INCUBATOR? STUPID IDIOT MOTHERFUCKING INCUBATOR GOD DAMN FOOL CHILD MANIPULATING WITCH CREATING RAT OLD BASTARD SHITHEAD IDIOT AVATAR OF THE WHORE BIGGEST CLOWN IN THE CIRCUS LAUGHED OUT OF TOWN COWBOY MOTHERFUCKING INCUBATOR

STOP PINNING ME WHEN I TALK ABOUT KYUBEY I HATE HIM SO MUCH WHY DOES HE HAVE SO MANY FUCKED UP MAGICAL GIRLS WHY DID HE DECIDE TO FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT JUST LET THEM LIVE IS HE DEAD IS HE A BASTARD AXOLOTL HAS SUCH A VISCERAL AFFECT ON ME NOT EVEN IN THE ROOM NEVER SEEN THIS MANS FACE AND I KNOW HE HAS THE WORLDS SHITTIEST EARS GET AWAY FROM ME

if i wanted to get into heaven and god said incubators waiting inside i would piss on gods feet for the sole purpose of getting sent back down

if i have to deal with kyubey speaking one more word in person on voice in madoka magika not only will i close the tab i will delete my bookmark out of spite and have to rewatch the entire series again for the experience of being able to skip all the times when he is mentioned or alive

i know why i hate him so much. he collects vulnerable teenage girls and i am just mad because i am angy

he better have some fucked up backstory to explain this if hes just some rich shithead whos a fan of entropy and wanted the magical version ill go ham

BETTER have had a entropy make him kill a man cuz if he didnt Im going to make him

paypal.com/IFuckingHateTheIncubator

episodes not even about him. vaguely mentioned what is supposed to maybe be his stupid fucking contract and I lost it

where the fuck is kyubey if hes still alive im going to so deeply wish he wasnt

crusty little creature

ill punch kyubey and his stupid axolotl twig bones will simply flake apart under my epic huge meat fist and he will disintegrate until all thats left is one final contract he kept on him at all times simply titled Now You Fucked Up in ancient yiddish

im not breathing im hyperventilating at this point

i hope theres a date given for when the incubator died or will die so i can make it a reminder on my phone

everyday once a year i will see it and do anything but pay respects to the thing who had so many fucked up witches

[samble-moved]

....i really wanted to stop reading after the madoka abusive bs then i tried to read more bc i was still curious and IT JUST GOT WORSE????? why would madoka even do all that its just insanely ooc (to the point even kyubey says smth valid abt it 💀) op must be one of those ppl who thinks abusing someone is out of love or some fucking bullshit likeeee its just ????😭 why would they even think of writing it in the first place

the last one was just bad,,, insanely bad,,, i dont even have words to say abt it Its just insanely cruel

also reminds me of m*dokas*an on insta who posted on april fools last year that madohomu are in a abusive relationship in that movie which was just fucking corny

op acknowledged it was abusive and not meant to be glamorized, but i still have zero clue as to their motivations for writing it. even the on-site reviews were like "why the fuck would you write this". it's not even, like, a fic about abuse, but meant to have a message. it's just blatent cruelty for the sake of cruelty.

at first i thought the author hated homura, thus the literal homura torture, but then in another fic they wrote they portray godoka as a meddling, possessive, childish person who ruins all of homura's relationships after she ascends (basically chasing off anyone who homura even attempts interest in as she ages). i didn't even finish reading it because it annoyed me so much and was so ooc. so maybe they hate madoka instead? first portraying her as a meddling god who fucks over homura's attempts at moving on, then a full blown domestic abuser who uses real life military torture techniques.

[mengyao]

4 for strike dear mistress, 12, 17, 22 for fowd, and 46!

4. What detail in strike, dear mistress are you really proud of?

oh jeez. there are a fair amount in there tbh, since it was me trying to cram all of my headcanons about JC pertinent to foowd that couldn't come across naturally via NHS POV into one piece of PWP, but i liked getting to dwell a bit on JC's whole concept of marriage and how miserable he imagines it must be if it's not with someone he's already actively in love with… If he did put effort into looking for candidates, he can’t imagine anyone angling their daughters at him for any reason besides his name and position. Not with his reputation. He’s not compelled by the prospect of being politely—or impolitely—tolerated under his own fucking roof. He remembers his parents. How difficult it is to share a life. he's not even really wrong because i can't imagine that marrying some random 20 year old at this point in time would be emotionally fulfilling for him lol. he's framing it in this scene as being about his Perverse Sexual Desires but that's not really the issue… tfw you got promoted to authority figure as a teen but you're a baby brother to the core :( and you just want someone to genuinely like you for you, not just respect and defer to you out of social obligation :(

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

i think the opposite experience is more common for me lmao but i'm sure this has happened before. let me think. hnmmmmm i'm still very picky about amnesia fics but kitsch's bingqiu amnesia fic you are who you love outsold!

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

[shaky deep breath] Beefleaf. Madoka Magica. Fusion,

i litchjerally don't have more details about this concept than a very vague moodboard about um. girls who become witches (who pretend they're girls). cosmic entropy. does this make shi wudu kyubey or is kyubey jun wu? who can say. this is all part of my compulsion to assign all of my faves with "homura akemi vibes" regardless of if this is a real thing that they have

22. Who is your favorite character in flight of a one-winged dove and why?

[rihanna mario tweet voice] nie huaisang baby! nie fucking huaisang!!!!!

the reasons i love nhs (and foowd nhs specifically) are manifold so i shant elaborate on them here besides to say that for me personally, the characters i feel the most affection for are the ones who have a lot of problems that they didn't create but then who go on to create a bunch more problems for themselves and others, and you understand why they did so and they probably think they had no choice but it's like hmmmmmmmmm girl but did you really. did you really,

i like to pity my favs. just a bit. but also i want them to be happy whether or not they deserve it. you know how it is

46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?

i hate writing on my phone because it's so un-ergonomic and i have an on-and-off repetitive stress injury so i try to minimize the amount of typing i do on there BUT i do find that i often make different connections or get different ideas about how to write things when i'm on a phone, just because you're physically looking at the words in a different way, they end up arranged on the screen differently, etc… the "shape" changes… you can see much less words at a time vs. opening up a page on a computer screen… so i often do nitpicky little line edits on my phone, especially if i'm just reading a draft/wip file over idly on the train or before falling asleep etc (both of which i do a lot.)

my desktop computer in my room is where i do either my best or my worst writing, because i either get super in the zone or i'm sitting there totally distracted by everything else i can do on my computer/in my bedroom and have no sense of the external accountability that i'd have in a public place, or even out at the desk in the living room where my roommates can pass back and forth (i'm pretty good at writing deranged stuff in a small font stonefacedly which is the only way this is able to work)

[otaku-babu-vibes]

Finally got around to finishing this (I didnt see any of the side stuff or OVA's yet)... When I first watched it, I kinda watched it half heartedly. I didnt understand why people hated Kyubey so much (I do still think that the hate was over exaggerated) but I get it now LMAO.

Rebellion really has me a bit fucked up. I had shipped Homura x Madoka, but I didnt know it was canon. The story was hinting at it, very obviously, but I thought it was queer baiting. Homura admitting she loves Madoka, hit like a punch. Her love for Madoka fucked her up.

[strangeracrossthestreet]

I kind of agree but also like “revoking her right to have a say in her own existence” huh? What is she revoking here exactly? Madoka's self-sacrificial nonexistence? A decision that:

A) Is made on a timelimit. All her friends are dead. A rock and a hard place. Hardly a decision any different than the distressed wishes Kyubey gets girls to make on their death beds. Just because it's a mildly more thought out one doesn't make much of a difference.

B) Is made because she legit thinks she's more useful dead.

I will agree with this fully if post-rebellion went the way of 'Homura traps them in middle school forever' LOL but so far its Homura saying 'oh my god just live PLEASE just live' while fucking off even though she WANTS to be part of their life

She chooses not to be because self-hate indeed

Like, we can all admit Homura's a poor little meow meow but why do we always have to use *this* as the "Homura DID do wrong" thing, like. She's obsessive, she's a control freak, she'd *kill,* she'd break her back for things she ASSUMES Madoka will want. That is meow meow behavior. I don't think the agency thing is it.

See, the thing is, Homura DID do something wrong, and she was TRYING to do the right thing, she was TRYING to protect the one she loves in a last ditch attempt as she was literally dying in the only way she could possibly think to do and she did it by taking that persons agency away and revoking her right to have a say in her own existence, but Homura is just a 14 year old girl, a girl who’s never had a world outside of Madoka, a girl whose entire life has been one trauma after the other, and she doesn’t deserve to hate herself so intensely for her mistake if she could just reach out to Madoka, the girl who loves her, and try to fix it, but she’s so obsessed with the idea she’ll be hated she won’t even try.

[catgirlcommie]

i think im done with pmas it's just that i can't buy into so many of the things it has like i don't for a second believe that teams of magical girls that are 5-10 girls can survive long at all also the fact that so many people know and are seemingly very okay with the lich bombs or the fact that some groups have grief seed stockpiles of 30+ or the fact that groups of magical girls could mobilize to move to different cities leaving their territory that is absolutely vital to their existence

[silvermoon424]

One thing I really like about the reprint manga is that Kyubey is no longer drawn as a cartoon supervillain. Sure, he's placed in sinister lighting, but his expression is still his neutral ":3" face.

The old manga makes it seem like Kyubey actively enjoys being evil and loves seeing magical girls suffer, whereas the reprint manga is much more in-line with his anime portrayal. It makes much more sense for his character. Kyubey isn't fucking over and exploiting magical girls for shits and giggles, it's because the Incubators believe they are genuinely providing a service to the universe (and everything in it) by lengthening its lifespan.

The Incubators' actions are abhorrent, but morality doesn't factor into it for them. They operate on completely cold, alien logic. Emotions and morality have absolutely no bearing on what the Incubators do. They think it's perfectly acceptable to sacrifice what's equivalent to a handful of girls (and the resulting victims of their Witch forms) out of the countless lifeforms in the universe in order to sustain it. As beings with a conscience and a sense of right and wrong, we know it's horrible and cruel, but the Incubators don't understand why Madoka and the other girls make such a fuss over it.

So yeah, I definitely appreciate Honokage redrawing Kyubey to be the nuanced creep we all know and love to hate!